In all honesty, it’s not going to be the maddening plot
holes or ridiculous character continuity that makes me eventually give up Glee,
it’s going to be the creators screwing with the fans. A month after Ryan Murphy said quite clearly that Cory Monteith, Lea Michele, and Chris
Colfer are “not going to be back at all for Season Four,” his
partner Brad Fulchukgoes to Comic-Con and says the exact opposite. “Here’s
the exact thing: They are seniors, so they’re graduating, but because they’re
graduating doesn’t mean they’re leaving the show. If you have Lea Michele under
contract, you don’t say, ‘We’re gonna let you go.'”

But the news wasn’t so good for Chord Overstreet, who was offered recurring status for 10 episodes
with an option for joining the cast midseason, but he turned it down. “We wanted him back because we
like Chord personally and had some good stories planned for him and with Mercedes (Amber Riley). He decided he would have opportunities elsewhere that
he would like to pursue, and we can’t force him to work, so we wished him well.

Russell Brand
gives perhaps the most loving, perceptive tribute to Amy Winehouse imaginable. It
takes an addict to understand an addict, and Russell is quite open about his
past. I really can’t summarize the brilliance of the post.

Captain America: First Avenger used his shield to block any
spell Harry Potter had on the box office. The super hero pulled
in $65.8 million for the weekend, and the wizard fell (admittedly from
dizzying heights) 72% to a mere $48.1 million, while Friends With Benefits
found a disappointing $18.5 million for third place.

Not finding box office magic was the Sarah Palin documentary Undefeated, which expanded to 14
screens this weekend, but still managed to pull in only $24,000. It will transition to VOD
and DVD by September.

Trojan is going to launch a “food truck” to give
out condoms and promote their new “vibrating Twister” product. So
keep an eye out in New York City for mobile sex toy vendors. Heaven knows
they’ve been advertising it enough on cable, with the blow-your-hair back (even
on dudes) campaign.

Gawker intends to go to court to get records on just how friendly Fox News
head Roger Ailes is with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Speaking of Fox News, they managed to say “Muslim” “Islamic”
and “Al Qaeda” fifteen times in a five minute segment about the
horrible events in Norway over the weekend.

Steve Landis and Julie Irwin brought their beautiful
four-year-old twin girls to the Brooklyn Borough Hall Sunday to be flower girls in anyone’s wedding that needed them.
They didn’t know anyone getting married, but just wanted to be a part of
a historic moment in the fight for equality.

Brian Wilson is a
continuing fascination of mine. Weird things seem to follow the man around, and
now his beard has received its own Topps Baseball Card.

In a record double mention of baseball in a single Meme, I
only just became aware of the Garfoose
that Dick Hayhurst of the Toronto
Blue Jays invented to raise money for special needs kids. I’m fascinated by the
idea of creating a new mythical creature for charity and giving him a backstory,
and how a half-moose, half-giraffe comes to breathe fire.

Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy the Meme but sometimes forget to check for new editions? AfterElton has started a weekly newsletter with links to the week’s biggest gay pop culture stories. Check it out! (You can unsubscribe at any time.)